Bitdefender’s many layers of antivirus, web, and network protection keep you, your devices, and your data safe. However, when you connect to the internet, your data in transit could be at risk. To protect your data, you need a VPN (virtual private network). When you connect using a VPN, nobody, not even the owner of the shady Wi-Fi network you’re using, can access your network traffic, and you’ll be harder to track as you move across the web. Even the free Bitdefender antivirus comes with VPN protection, but it’s severely limited compared with the full Bitdefender Premium VPN, which costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year.
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The Bitdefender VPN displays a world map as its background. When you’re connected, the map centers on the VPN server location. But don’t imagine you’ll see it centered on faraway places. Clicking the Locations link at the bottom left reveals that choosing a specific server location worldwide is a feature reserved for paying customers. Those at the basic level must accept whatever server the VPN chooses. The double-hop feature, which runs your communications through two VPN servers to thoroughly obscure your actual IP address, is also a premium-only feature.
Basic users also see a counter at the top right showing how much of the current day’s 200MB of bandwidth remains. In testing, I found that 10 minutes of video watching used up my entire daily allowance.
The bandwidth counter sits atop a stack of other statistics panels. You see how much time you’ve been connected, how much you’ve used the VPN during the last week, and the amount of secured upload and download traffic. One panel shows the IP address of your VPN server—websites you visit will see that address, not your real one. You can quickly configure the VPN’s ad-blocking and kill-switch features.
Kill switch sounds violent, but it’s an important VPN security feature. If the VPN connection drops, it simply disconnects from the unprotected internet until the VPN comes back online.
There’s also an unusually comprehensive collection of auto-connect options. You can have the VPN connect automatically when the system boots, when you log in to unsecured Wi-Fi, when you use peer-to-peer sharing, or when you connect to specific apps, domains, or website categories.
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Bitdefender licenses its VPN technology from IPVanish. (Editors’ Note: IPVanish is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com’s parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement.) It has servers in 150 cities across 112 countries, with a good global spread. How many VPNs offer servers in Bosnia, Liechtenstein, or the Isle of Man? You can choose from almost two dozen cities within the US, six cities in the UK, and five in Australia. Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Spain also offer a choice of two or three cities.
Server locations matter, partly because a larger collection of locations means more options for spoofing your location, and partly because a closer server usually yields better speed and lower latency. But again, in the limited edition available with Bitdefender’s antivirus, you don’t get to make that choice.
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This antivirus supports several VPN protocols, but by default it chooses the best protocol for the connection. Those with the knowledge to make the choice can select IKEv2, OpenVPN, or WireGuard, or let the VPN choose. WireGuard and OpenVPN are modern options, and as they’re both open-source projects, they’ve been scrutinized by all interested parties. We like to see VPNs that use these two protocols.
The VPN can block ads and trackers at the domain level, supplementing Bitdefender’s other defenses against dangerous websites. Its split-tunneling feature lets you exempt specified apps or websites from connecting through the VPN. The App Traffic Optimizer, an uncommon but welcome feature, lets you designate up to three apps for priority connection when using the VPN.
A major concern with using a VPN is its impact on internet connection speeds. Using the Ookla speed test tool, we calculate the percent change in speed test results with and without the VPN. (Editors’ Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement.)
Our latest speed test results for Bitdefender were conducted while Bitdefender relied on a different partner’s VPN server network, so they don’t necessarily apply. At that time, Bitdefender’s impact on the all-important download speed was slightly higher than the median of current VPNs, as was its impact on upload speed. It didn’t increase latency as much as most competitors, though. It’s important to remember that variations in network traffic can affect speed test results. The fastest VPN today may not be the fastest tomorrow, and the fastest VPN in New York may not be the fastest VPN in Kalamazoo. We don’t recommend choosing a VPN based solely on speed.
Unless you spring for a Premium VPN subscription, you’ll have to be sparing with your use of the VPN. As noted, burning through your daily limit of 200MB doesn’t take long, especially if you’re doing streaming or other data-intensive activities. Your best bet is to leave all auto-connect options turned off and rely on Bitdefender to suggest enabling the VPN when you visit websites in categories like Financial, Online Payments, or Health.
